Maple Grove baseball team will rely on young team to defend conference title

Published April 11, 2013 at 12:40 am

by Bob San

SUN PRESS NEWSPAPERS

Last year the Maple Grove Crimson won the Northwest Suburban Conference baseball championship with a 17-2 record. They lost in the Section 5AAA championship round to Totino Grace and finished 20-5 overall.

Many of the players on that team have graduated and Crimson coach Darby Carlson will have to plug in many positions with players new to the varsity level.
Tyler Field is one of the few returning starters on the Maple Grove baseball team. (File photo courtesy of Rich Moll)

Maple Grove does return several solid veterans. Returning pitchers are all conference senior lefthander Tyler Field (7-0 with a 2.02 ERA and 49 strikeouts) and senior righthander Erick Kivi (4 – 0 with a 2.65 ERA).

The Crimson may be young but Carlson and his tradition-rich program should field a team that will be competitive, especially when the younger players gain experience.

“We are returning a squad with limited varsity experience with many questions to be answered in a short amount of time,” Carlson said. “Our starting pitching should be competitive with seniors Field and Kivi leading the way but our defense will need to be solid,” Carlson said.

Carlson looks for Champlin Park, Coon Rapids and Elk River to be the top teams in the conference.